This invention relates to method and apparatus for incubating eggs. More particularly, it concerns such a method and apparatus which includes a weight-sensing means which senses the weight of a batch of eggs subjected to incubation, and wherein provision is made for using this information to control the atmospheric conditions under which the eggs are being incubated in a manner which produces an optimum egg hatch.
Observations which have been performed on the incubation cycle of avian eggs indicate that the eggs experience a weight loss during the incubation period which is primarily due to loss of water from the eggs through diffusion of the water through the pores existing in the usual egg shell into the surrounding environment. This loss of water is sometimes referred to as the "dry-down" which occurs in the egg during incubation. The rate of dry-down, and the total amount which occurs during incubation, it has been discovered, may be controlled by controlling the atmospheric conditions which surround the eggs during the incubating period.
More specifically, it has been observed that where the dry-down in the egg is too fast or exceeds the optimum amount (which with the usual turkey egg is in the neighborhood of 13.5%), weak dehydrated embryos result. Where the dry-down is at too slow a rate, or total dry-down is less than the optimum, the air sac which normally forms within the egg shell is too small, tending to cause drowning of the embryo due to lack of the air sac needed for internal breathing. In both instances, so-called pipping may be interfered with, pipping referring to the act of an emerging embryo breaking the egg shell that surrounds it and becoming a hatched chick.
What the instant invention more specifically contemplates is controlling the atmosphere which surrounds the eggs, more specifically the relative humidity of the atmosphere, whereby dry-down during the incubation cycle tends to proceed along a targeted rate, and the dry-down at the end of the cycle is at the level considered optimum for chick production. These ends are achieved according to the instant invention by periodically monitoring the weight of the eggs subjected to the incubation cycle, whereby in effect the weight loss in the average egg is made known, and utilizing this information to make adjustments in the relative humidity in the atmosphere surrounding the eggs to increase or decrease the rate of dry-down, as may be desirable in any particular case.
A general object of the invention, therefore, is to provide an improved method for incubating eggs which relys on monitoring egg weight for the purpose of controlling the conditions of the atmosphere which surrounds the eggs during the incubation cycle or period.
Another object is to provide improved apparatus for incubating eggs, featuring weight-sensing means which senses the weight of the eggs during the incubation cycle, and means responsive to this weight-sensing means controlling the conditions of the atmosphere surrounding the eggs.
More specifically, as a further object of the invention it is contemplated that a batch of eggs be subjected to the incubation period in a single stage type of incubation, which means that all the eggs in the batch progress through the incubation cycle at the same stage. Periodically, weight measurements are made of these eggs to determine the dry-down which has occurred in these eggs. The rate of dry-down is then compared to a targeted dry-down rate, and a humidity adjustment made when a variance from targeted dry-down is noted, which tends to correct the variance.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an incubation facility which includes an incubating chamber, means for holding incubating egg trays within this chamber which includes weight-sensing means constructed and arranged to produce a measurement indicative of the weight of the eggs carried by the trays, and means for adjusting the relative humidity of the chamber responsive to the measurements produced by this weight-sensing means.
These and other objects and advantages are attained by the invention, which is described hereinbelow in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: